Using The Light Table & Projector for Preschool Art Appreciation!

We are always looking for new things to look at and explore on our homemade light table and on our new-to-us overhead projector, so I wanted to get my hands on some slides of some sort. Of course, I had to ask my mom, a professional ceramic artist, if she still had slides of some of her sculptural pieces. A few days later she showed up on my doorstep with a binder filled with pages of duplicate slides of her sculptures. So I set up this simple Preschool art appreciation invitation on our light table using art slides and some magnifying glasses from the dollar store.

An Invitation for Preschool Art Appreciation

I picked slides of my mom’s cat sculptures because they are fun, bright, and full of wonderful lines, shapes, and colors. Plus, I knew that the boys would love them!

Once on the light table, K was fascinated by two slides of cat sculptures, in particular. Together we compared them, discussing things like colors, shapes, size, etc. He also used the magnifying glass to examine the details closer. I also told both of the boys that their grandma made the art in the slides, which they thought was pretty cool. They also recognized that the orange cat sculpture is the same 50+ lbs sculpture that’s currently on display in our home office. I finally asked them to name the sculptures they saw in the slides, but neither showed much interest in this part.

We then put the slides onto the overhead projector to see how they looked when projected. We then played a quick gross motor game. I asked them to jump and high five the art that portrayed certain characteristics. For instance, K is getting ready to high five the round, orange cat in the picture below. This game was a great way to get them active, while paying attention to details in the art they saw.

J also spent some time using the magnifying glass on the projected images. Here he is checking out a dancer figurine that my mom made.

The boys really enjoyed this simple Preschool art appreciation activity, and I often still find J flipping through the binder of art slides, quietly admiring the works of art his grandma has created.

Married to her high school sweetheart, Dyan is a stay at home mom to two boys, J and K, who also teaches piano part time out of her home. She began her blog “And Next Comes L” in March 2013 after some mom friends encouraged her to share her creative ideas. You can read more about how her blog came to be here. She loves to dabble in all things creative and crafty, but particularly enjoys making homemade toys and quiet books for her kids.

This former art teacher is all about Preschool art appreciation activities using fine art. I love the addition of the light and magnifying glasses, too! Thanks so much for the great idea, Dyan!